Kubrick is telling a story with ghosts the two girls, the former caretaker and a bartenderbut it isn't a "ghost story", because the ghosts may not be present in any sense at all except as visions experienced by Jack or Danny.

What makes this film great though and not just good is by bringing the issue of homosexuality into it, but he slowly begins to make the issue hazy and unclear so that it no longer becomes an issue except for the less developed, and unliked, characters in the film.